Tuesday, June 24, 2008

my carbon footprint

Today I decided to check out what my carbon footprint is (www.carbonfootprint.com), to see how i am killing the earth. the results are skewed since i cannot use public transportation nor do i know the amount of gas and such i use a year (as i only pay electricity & heat is included in every place i have owned). but my results:
"Your Carbon Footprint:
tonnes of CO2
House
0.511
Flights
0.762
Car
11.826
Motorbike
0.005
Bus & Rail
0.000
Secondary
7.154

Total
20.257"

Now. that seems like a lot! but I have both the F150 & the Mazda listed. The differences between them are significant:
"15000 miles in MAZDA MAZDA3: 4.608 tonnes:
15000 miles in FORD F150 PICKUP 2WD: 7.218 tonnes".
I am trying to make Earth-friendly choices, such as 90% of the time using Trader Joe's reusable grocery bags, walking or biking close distances, turning lights & appliances off, and recycling when I can (the county won't give us a recycling box since we are not homeowners, and there is not a drop off site in the county. BOO.). I am striving to do more, and open to suggestions. I feel like I will be able to make greener choices in the home once we buy our own home, and can control the appliances we put in, etc.

What is your carbon footprint?

1 comment:

Kayte said...

Yeah, these calculators are kind of hard - calculating all the annual averages. I did mine best I could and came up with 11.699 but I have the advantage of public transport available to me! You're still below the national average, and much more conscientious than the average American. I would be proud of everything you do to be more earth-friendly!